Soulmate Guy
by NinjuhKidd
Summary: Sasuke can't help but be annoyed by a customer who comes into the store and leaves... without buying anything. Turns out the man has an agenda of his own.


"He's here again. Soulmate Guy."

The tall stack of books nearly slips out of his hands and off the cart. The slim raven lets out a groan as he struggles to place the books down without the ridiculously heavy _Sherlock Holmes_ falling onto his foot (the last time someone dropped the 50 pound box set, the poor staff member couldn't walk for weeks). He eyes the cart with trepidation for a few seconds, only straightening when he is certain the books are not about to fall to certain death on the cart with the unsteady wheel.

He turns around to face his colleague, Sakura, who is preoccupied with checking out said "Soulmate Guy". Even without peeking in the direction, Uchiha Sasuke knows the blonde is loitering around shelf K10, where the Family & Relationship books can be found.

The blonde is a regular customer in the bookstore Sasuke works in, often appearing about an hour before closing time to inspect the books on aisle K10. Ever since Sasuke joined Barnes and Noble, he has seen the customer at least 3 out of 5 times a week and not once has he ever _ever_ purchased a book.

Instead, from 8:30pm to 9:30pm, Soulmate Guy lingers around that specific aisle with a book in his hands, pretending (at least that's what they think) to read while chatting with (or trying to pick up) anyone within a three foot radius.

None of the bookstore staff likes him, Sasuke included. This isn't a library, for goodness' sake; why can't Soulmate Guy just _buy_ the book and read it at home instead of harassing the customers and the staff with his lame pickup lines and small talk?

"You know, he's quite good-looking."

Sasuke rolls his eyes towards the ceiling, mentally noting that the light bulb in that strange cone-shaped lamp needs changing.

"Sakura Haruno. If I have a dollar for every time you say that, I wouldn't be working here," he retorts dryly. He eyes the blonde, who is so tall his head peeks out from behind the shelf. "Why don't you do us a favur, get together with him, and maybe then he wouldn't be so desperate to try and fish for dates in a _bookstore?_"

Sakura sticks her tongue out. "I'll go return the stray books to other departments."

Shaking his head, Sasuke glances at his watch and glares at his cart. 9:20pm. There's no chance of him shelving the remaining books now. He moves away from the cart brimming with books to the Self-Help section to pack for closing, grumbling under his breath when he sees numerous books stuffed horizontally into the shelves. Ugh. Stupid customers. Is it so difficult to put the book where they took it?

He goes around the shelves, picking up stray books that do not belong (such as _Harry Potter _and_Curious George_) and dumping them in a basket so he can return them to their respective departments later when he nearly walks into a wall.

Scratch that, it's the blonde. Mr Soulmate Guy.

"We're closing," Sasuke says pointedly, not bothering to sound polite because hey, this is the leech who treats their Lifestyle department as his personal library.

"Just let me finish this chapter," mumbles the customer, poking his head into the book. Sasuke looks at the cover (_Pick Up Lines and Flirting for Dummies_) and resists the temptation to snort. Clearly, books cannot help everyone.

"You know, you can _buy_ the book," Sasuke suggests with a forced smile on his lips.

The blonde blushes at that and quickly places the book back into shelf K10.

"Maybe next time," he says with a little cough and quickly makes his way out of the bookstore.

"I think he's scared of you, Sasu," comments a smiling boy, whose teeth give him the appearance of a shark. Suigetsu, from the Comics department, grins as he shoves a stack of stray Lifestyle books into Sasuke's hands.

Scared of _him_? He's probably the least intimidating staff in Lifestyle. Has he even _seen_ Gaara's face?

* * *

"How old do you think he is?" Sakura asks the table of 6 conversationally during break the next day. She has a packet of Sour Patch Kids open and already half of its contents are sitting in her stomach while a portion of it spews out of her mouth messily when she speaks, her pink hair is a stark difference against the white of her skin.

Gaara, one of their part-time Lifestyle staff, wrinkles his nose and edges away from her.

"He looks old, like Kankuro," the boy offers, before squirming backwards when said person reaches across the table to hit him on the head with his empty cup of bubble tea.

"I'm not old, asshole!"'

Sasuke pulls Kankuro back from their poor red-head, his hand gripping tight on the collar of his uniform so he doesn't lunge forward and kill Gaara. He prefers the red head alive to tide them through the weekend crowd. "Twenty-three? Twenty-four? Why do you ask?"

"She wants to know if she's compatible with him," Suigetsu teases knowingly.

Sakura doesn't deny. Suigetsu chews on a Sour Patch thoughtfully. "How is he here every day? Does he not work?"

From the way Kankuro lights up, Sasuke knows he's up to no good. "Hey, why doesn't our Sasu pack up the Family & Relationships shelves today? Talk to him and give us more gossip!"

"Why me?" he asks pathetically but he already knows the answer before anyone replies. Yada, yada, yada, because he's the Lifestyle department's assistant manager. Sasuke pouts at the empty packet of Sour Patch Kids. Hopefully sleazy Soulmate Guy is straight and will not try to pick him up.

"If would be nice if you guys stopped calling me Sasu damn it", he adds, his statement falls on deaf ears.

Ouch. Kankuro elbows him painfully at the side, jostling him forward when the familiar blonde appears at exactly 8:14pm and heads, immediately, to shelf K10. Sasuke looks at the ceiling as if hoping that cone-shaped lamp will fall onto his head but it unfortunately doesn't and by the time he comes to his senses, he's already standing in front of Soulmate Guy.

Soulmate Guy looks at him questioningly.

He loses his nerve and turns to the shelf behind to pretend to be sorting the books by the authors' last names. Sasuke nearly jumps out of his skin when Soulmate Guy bumps into his butt by accident when the other bends down.

_ Why are these stupid aisles so cramped?_

"Sorry, are you okay?"

Sasuke nods numbly. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kankuro and Suigetsu urging him to talk. Gaara just looks pained. Sasuke mentally questions his boss' choices in hiring these colleagues. He sucks in a deep breath and smiles brightly at Soulmate Guy.

"So I see you here all the time but I've never introduced myself!" he exclaims, badly wanting to cringe at the happy, hyper voice he uses to talk to children. "I'm Sasuke! You are?"

The blonde blinks at him in surprise, as if he hasn't expected a Barnes and Noble staff member to say anything more than "_the store is closing_".

Sasuke's eyes fall onto the book he's reading (still the same _Pick Up Lines and Flirting for Dummies_) and hopes desperately that he doesn't think Sasuke is trying to _flirt_ with him. The horror.

"I'm Narutoe."

Aha, Name acquired.

"Do you like reading relationship books?" Sasuke continues bravely. "Are you looking for a s-soulmate?" Sasuke winces at his slip up.

Naruto's lips widen into a dazzling smile at the question, momentarily stunning Sasuke. It occurs to him out of all the times he has seen this man, there is not once he has smiled this brilliantly. It almost makes Sasuke feel bad for making fun of the man because wow, this man can actually be attractive. If he wasn't such a creep that is.

"It's my mom. She keeps nagging at me to settle down," Naruto tells him, voice dropping into a whisper as if embarrassed that anyone will over hear even though _every single staff in the store_ has seen him at aisle K10. "I'm hoping that these books can help me."

He clears his throat and looks at the book in his hand, poking a finger at the page he's in. "I would guess you're against hunting – am I right?"

Sasuke looks at him, completely bewildered.

"Because you're a fox!"

_Okay. No wonder he can't get attached._

The assistant manager clears his throat again, torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to tear the book in Naruto's hand into halves.

"Uh… but aren't you busy at work?" Sasuke asks weakly, not knowing how to react to the pickup line. "You're here almost daily."

A grimace forms on Narutoe's face, making him appear horrifyingly angry. Sasuke takes an involuntary step back.

"It's complicated," he says.

Jobless, then. Not that Sasuke is surprised, considering this is the man that has read every book on shelf K10 without buying any and is now on L10.

Sasuke really doesn't mean to judge but he can't help it. They sell books here. They're not a non-profit doesn't he just go to a library?

When Naruto glances back at the book, Sasuke takes the opportunity to look the other over and promptly grimaces. A collared long-sleeved shirt with a pair of terribly ugly orange pants.

Was he dressing for work halfway and forgot he was wearing his pajama bottoms?

"Would it do you any good to learn pickup lines?" he mutters under his breath. "Especially when you're dressed like this?"

Naruto's head snaps up.

_Shit. _

He hasn't realized he had spoken aloud.

"What's wrong with how I dress?" he says defensively, dumping the book back onto shelf L10 (but not before putting a post-it note between the pages).

A flush creeps across Sasuke's cheeks. Did he sound too insensitive? He swallows guiltily. "I don't—"

"Don't bother apologising if you don't mean it," the blonde bites agitatedly, storming off before Sasuke can say another word. His ears burn hotly but it's too late to say anything anyway. He watches Soulmate Guy's retreating back remorsefully.

"Uh-oh. You've hurt Soulmate Guy's feelings," Kakashi, the Children Books department assistant, comments mildly from behind him, in his hand is a children's book but of course that's just the cover, the dirty pervert hides his dirty Icchi Icchi novels behind the covers of an innocent children's book.

Sasuke used to wonder why the man was never fired but soon leanred that the boss was the author of said novels.

"He deserves it anyway," snorts Suigetsu, his elbow casually resting on Kakashi's shoulder. "With any luck, he won't come again."

It turns out Suigetsu's prediction is right. Soulmate Guy does not appear on the days Sasuke is working and according to his colleagues, they haven't been seeing him either.

It's almost as if he has disappeared into thin air and the book with the post-it note still rests comfortably between the pages of _Pick Up Lines and Flirting for Dummie_s.

It has been 3 weeks and there is still no sign of him. Sasuke tells himself he's only worried because he offended the man and he really wants to apologise.

"Why the heck is there a sticky note in here?" The Lifestyle department's part-time assistant, Gaara, questions on a slow Sunday afternoon.

The book dangles between his index finger and thumb and the presence of the bright yellow note taunts Sasuke. Gaara starts to pull out the note but before it can leave pages 25-26, Sasuke snatches the book out of his hands.

"It's mine," he mumbles and ducks around the counter to keep it in his drawer. He doesn't want to explain that he hasn't taken the post-it note out of the book in the hopes that Soulmate Guy will return to continue where he left off.

It's silly, but Sasuke thinks the line "_you don't know what you're missing until it's gone_" never rings truer.

He sighs in relief when Sakura appears to tell him it's time to take their break. Avoiding Gaara's confused gaze, Sasuke hurries behind her into the pantry and plops down dejectedly onto the chair. Not even Sakura waving a bottle of Strawberry Milk can cheer him up.

"Are you still moping about Soulmate Guy?" she asks in concern. "Maybe he hasn't come because he found a job?"

"I don't know why I said it, Sakura," bemoans Sasuke, voice muffled since his head is hidden in his arms. "I should have kept my comments to myself. I've never even spoken to him before and the first time I speak to him is to diss him. What if he complains to the manager? I'm _dead_."

Sakura pats him consolingly on the shoulder. "It's been weeks. If he wanted to complain, he would have done it earlier."

It's not only that but Sasuke doesn't know how to tell her that he's worried he might have hurt Naruto's feelings. Won't the rest laugh at him if they find out? After all, Naruto's just an annoying customer to them. One that doesn't even buy anything.

"Cheer up," Sakura says sympathetically and quickly glances at her watch. "We should head back to the sales floor and prepare for the book signing later. Come on. I'll buy you dinner after work."

The promise of a free dinner does perk Sasuke up a little. Trudging behind the other to the storeroom, Sasuke picks up a stack of the newly released _How I Got Out of My Comfort Zone and Met My Dream Guy_ for the book signing and sets them down neatly on the table top. He fixes the poster on the wall uninterestedly when the marketing team arrives.

"The turn out isn't bad for a new author, is it?" Iruka asks brightly.

Sasuke shrugs at the marketing executive and scans the crowd. Well, yeah, not too bad, although for a title like _How I Got Out of My Comfort Zone and Met My Dream Guy_, Sasuke will have expected more females in the audience. He starts to tell Iruka that but before he can get a word out of his mouth, someone taps him on the shoulder.

Iruka lights up.

"Naruto! Meet Sasuke. He's the one who's been facilitating this book signing," he says and he continues to talk as Sasuke turns to look at the person who so rudely touched his shoulder. "Your book is going to be in his department so be nice to him or he won't sell your books, alright?"

Sasuke's jaw drops. It only takes a second for him to recognize the blonde in front of him. Without the awful orange pants and cheap flip flops, Soulmate Guy cuts a striking figure in the sleek black suit.

Is he dreaming? Is this really – Naruto?

"Sasuke? Sasuke?"

"Huh?" Sasuke splutters incoherently. Iruka shoots him a bemused look.

"This is the author of _How I Got Out of My Comfort Zone and Met My Dream Guy_. Naruto Uzu—"

"It's okay, Iruka," Soulmate Guy says smoothly. "You don't have to introduce us. Sasuke is the Dream Guy in my book."

"You mean it's all a _ploy?_"

Sasuke flushes all the way to his toes as Naruto nods at Sakura's incredulous face.

He ducks his head and stares at the back cover of the book, wondering why he didn't think of reading the synopsis when the title came in two weeks ago. He would have found the story familiar!

"Okay, let me get this straight," Sakura says again, eyes wide. She isn't the only one. The rest of the bookstore staff have similar expressions on their faces. "You came to the bookstore dressed like a hobo, read almost every book on the shelf and harassed the other customers _so you could get Sasuke's attention?_"

This time it is Naruto who blushes.

"Wow. I don't know if I should call it a really smart idea or a really dumb idea." Sasuke glares at Sakura, who then smiles sheepishly before she adds, "So what's the plan now? Now that you've 'met your Dream Guy'?"

Sasuke catches the look Naruto sneaks at him and he blinks at the blonde like a deer caught in the headlights. Naruto clears his throat and, much to his surprise, reaches for his hand.

"My next book will be titled _How I Convinced My Dream Guy I'm His Dream Guy_."


End file.
